// Quiz faces dispute over the composition of its board
// Shareholder advisory bodies issue warnings about finance director Gerard Sweeney and chair Peter Cowgill
// The Covid-19 has “significantly impacted” Quiz’s current financial year
Quiz is reportedly facing a dispute over the composition of its board.
Shareholder advisory bodies have issued warnings about finance director Gerard Sweeney and chairman Peter Cowgill, who also runs JD Sports, The Sunday Times reported.
Sweeney joined Quiz in 2016 and currently sits on the pay committee, which has led proxy advisory services company Glass Lewis to recommend voting against his reelection at the AGM on December 30.
READ MORE: Quiz swings to full-year loss as sales plunge 86%
Investors do not usually expect executive directors to sit on committees that set pay levels.
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has also interrogated Sweeney’s role as company secretary — a position investors would expect to be filled by a non-board member — and recommended abstaining on his reelection.
Meanwhile, ISS has recommended voting against Cowgill because he sits on the audit committee.
The company said Cowgill has two other boardroom roles – in addition to JD Sports, he chairs United Carpets.
However, Glass Lewis has backed Cowgill, saying he is committed to his role at Quiz.
Quiz is run by chief executive Tarak Ramzan, who founded the company in 1993.
It was floated on AIM in 2017 and reported a £29.4 million loss in the year to the end of March.
The Covid-19 has “significantly impacted” its current financial year, with sales in the six months to the end of September down 73 per cent to £17.2 million.
Quiz’s store estate, which is run by Kast Retail, fell into administration in June, which allowed it to cut stores from 75 to about 60.
It has since reduced the number of concessions it operates from 168 to 143.
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